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Wilhelm
Wilhelm is the main antagonist of the Xenosaga series and the mysterious founder and CEO of the largest interplanetary conglomerate, Vector Industries. He also served as the Executive Committee Director of the Galaxy Federation, up to a decade ago. Wilhelm is in control of all government and religion in the galaxy and has infiltrated many of humanity's positions of power, and he is the most powerful figure in the universe and has existed since it began. His goal is to brainwash and deceive humanity with false Christianity and religion in general. It is implied he controlled the Catholic Church in the Lost Jerusalem era. Myyah comparison Wilhelm is the Xenosaga equivalent from Myyah Hawwa of Xenogears, as a powerful figure controlling and manipulating humanity from behind-the-scenes. However, Wilhelm and Myyah vary in some aspects: * Wilhelm is in control of 500,000 planets, while Myyah is only in control of 1 planet. * Wilhelm is invulnerable to aging, while Myyah is not, hence her body jumping when her vessel is too old. * Wilhelm seems to be slightly less malicious than Myyah, allowing more room for free will. There's also no proof Wilhelm initiated or influenced any wars to occur - this is humanity's doing. * Wilhelm's motive is to reset the universe through Eternal Recurrence and collect the necessary factors required for Eternal Recurrence. Myyah's motive is collect flesh to revive her "god weapon", Deus. * Wilhelm is prone to amnesia while Myyah isn't. When Eternal Recurrence occurs, Wilhelm is confused and loses his memory. When Myyah body jumps, she keeps her memory. * Wilhelm seems more altruistic than Myyah. Wilhelm claims he wants to "save the world" and what he's doing is the "only way" to save it, and he probably doesn't view himself as "evil". Identity He is a mysterious partially-omniscient figure, who always seems to know everything as to what is going on, and one of the most suspicious, powerful and influential characters in the Xenosaga series. His red eyes are clearly inhuman. In actuality, he is the Guardian of the Lower Domain of the Universe. Wilhelm spends centuries preparing Eternal Recurrence, collecting the factors required to achieve it through a web of manipulation. Because of Eternal Recurrence, it is unknown how old Wilhelm is. In Xenosaga, he is at least 6000. However, because of combined Eternal Recurrences, he could be 20,000 or 50,000 or 500,000 years old. Wilhelm also has an affinity for referring to life's situations and humanity as if they were all a part of some universal theatrical play for his entertainment. Wilhelm is also an avid fan of chess, adding fuel to the dramatic approach of his manipulations. He also always listens to Richard Wagner's music, which adding with his name and actions kind of give him the role of a young and immature Friedrich Nietzsche. In addition, Nietzsche's middle name is Wilhelm. Wilhelm uses the name Heinlein to exploit Ormus. Heinlein is likely a reference to the science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein. Due to the series' Biblical and Gnostic overtones, Wilhelm may be interpreted as Lucifer/Satan, Pontius Pilate, the Antichrist, or the Demiurge. It's also possible he is a mixture of these such as being both Satan and the Demiurge. Wilhelm's true identity, beyond the "Guardian of the Lower Domain", remains a mystery. If Wilhelm is indeed Lucifer or Satan, then he has already deceived much of humanity who imagine him as a stereotypical red-skinned demon with horns. 2 Corinthians 11:14 says Satan transforms himself as an angel of light. Personality Wilhelm is incredibly calm, seemingly never surprised by much that happens. He seems to take pleasure looking at the events that unfold around him. He is extremely manipulative, considering the fact that he manipulated all of humanity to save the universe. Wilhelm looks at each and every event, as if each is a single act upon a stage. To him, life seems to be a game or play on a chessboard. It is also possible that Wilhelm is a sadist, as several events that took place that involved Shion, he seemed to enjoy the torture he put Shion and her friends through. At the end of Episode III, Wilhelm also spoke of the fact that he was not as generous as Kevin and thus, had no intentions of showing remorse. Wilhelm is incredibly mysterious and seems to find entertainment in watching the world as it revolves around him, as though he has seen everything many times before and expects nothing to change. Wilhelm's intention Even Wilhelm, the one behind everything, loses all memory by Eternal Recurrence. Wilhelm, too, at the same time that Eternal Recurrence is achieved, forgets everything, and returns to an original state. He returns to a state where the meaning of his own existence, the reason, the purpose, the role: all of it is unknown. It is the same as with all humans who worry about and grasp for the meaning of their birth and the reason they live. By gazing at the human consciousness that streams through the Compass of Order, he comes to understand the world. By gazing at the human hearts that live in the world and by understanding the world that surrounds himself, he comes to discover what he himself can do. And then, realizing that the world is drawing near to the crisis of collapse, in order to avoid it, he considers what can be done. What could he do? What should he do? What would he do? Although many people seek a glorious and glamorous dream during their short lifetimes, wishing for a life that is full of glitz, and utilize their surroundings to gain economic strength, status, fame, authority, wealth, material gain and power, Wilhelm acted thinking only to save the entire world and universe from crisis. His actions of forming the root of every organization and spinning society and history from behind the scenes were completely altruistic. For thousands of years of history, many people's quiet everyday lives had to change into blood-smeared nightmares. Politics were spun; war was waged, economics was controlled, and civilization was utilized. There was even so much hateful and cursed words raised that it was incalculable. It is unknown how many and how much wars, death, suffering and violence Wilhelm has seen, but eventually, he would realize that the human condition is chaos, pain, suffering, death, slavery, etc. And Wilhelm, clearly conscious of the aim for Eternal Recurrence, recognizes that history such as this will once again repeat. In order to repeat a blood-smeared history, history will continue to be stained in blood. Because, if the world that wants to cover its eyes is not affirmed, the very world itself will completely vanish. Only someone who possesses an unwavering resolve is able to accomplish that; it was a superhuman choice. That blood-stained choice cannot be judged by such things as the laws that differ according to nation, nor by morals that change according to era, nor by the standard of values that sway within an individual heart; it was something beyond good and evil. Therefore, he couldn't speak his own thoughts. That's because wishing for understanding is a desire for oneself to be given acceptance. He resigned even desire such as that. It was only just to save the world from the threat of annihilation. While his methods differed from Shion's, Wilhelm undoubtedly sought to save the world just the same. Or perhaps what he truly wanted was a revolution in humanity's consciousness, brought about by the cyclical recurrence of time. Background Birth The destruction of the universe looked unavoidable, and was headed on the path to annihilation. If ever the Collective Unconscious collapses, then by reaction the Real Number Domain of the Lower Domain of the universe will collapse, and also the Upper Domain of the universe would be enveloped in the destruction. If ever Anima activates to prevent the Upper Domain from collapsing, the Lower Domain would still be destroyed. Thus, Wilhelm was created by the Collective Unconscious as the Guardian of the Lower Domain of the Universe. He is seemingly the oldest character in Xenosaga, even though it's not confirmed--his involvement in past events suggests that he was even older than chaos and Mary Magdalene. His task is to ensure the continued survival of the Lower Domain of the Universe. For this, he must ensure that either Anima won't activate or that the Collective Unconscious won't collapse. Unfortunately, preventing the activation of Anima will eventually lead to the collapse of the Collective Unconscious, and Wilhelm doesn't seem to have the power to stop the Collective Unconscious from collapsing. To help with his task, Wilhelm possesses an artifact called the Compass of Order and Chaos, most commonly called the Compass of Order, which can be used to watch the movements of consciousness and acts, in part, on them. As such, Wilhelm looks omniscient during the events of Xenosaga, always watching his compass and apparently being always aware of all events. Ancient Lost Jerusalem Era On Lost Jerusalem, Wilhelm was an emperor at the time that Yeshua and Mary Magdalene attempted to save the Universe using Zarathustra. His historical identity is never revealed, but he was possibly a Roman Emperor since they were the ones with power in that time. Considering the time suggested, Wilhelm was most likely the Emperor Tiberius Caesar Augustus. Based on this, it can be speculated that Wilhelm once worked actively for the Roman Empire. Tiberius became a dark, reclusive, and somber ruler, which would correspond with Wilhelm discovering what he has to do and taking action against Yeshua and Mary. It is also speculated that he could have been Pontius Pilate, considering Pilate was associated with Jesus Christ. When the Messiah came, Yeshua and Mary served as his disciples along with others known as Apostles. The Apostles had a direct effect on Anima, unknowingly leading to the activation of Anima. As such, their existence was extremely dangerous for the life of the universe. Wilhelm worked against them, attempting to obstruct their actions in order to prevent the universe's destruction. Wilhelm also understood what he had to do to save the universe: employ the Eternal Recurrence. This system brings the world to a "reset" point in the past when either Anima is on the verge of activating or the Collective Unconscious is on the verge of collapsing. When the system is invoked, every consciousness, including Wilhelm, forgets its past life. Thus, humanity lives in an eternal cycle. Wilhelm has succeeded many times in activating the recurrence in previous universes, but each recurrence differs because U-DO is unaffected by the recurrence and its consciousness continues to evolve. Wilhelm attempted to take Zarathustra and start gathering the elements for the Recurrence. Since, with time, all Apostles, Mary and the Messiah died, and chaos did not have his full power, Wilhelm met little opposition in orchestrating his plan. Modern Lost Jerusalem Era Wilhelm started to manipulate humanity by founding Ormus and most likely controlling the outcome of significant events. At the present time, Wilhelm is the founder of Vector Industries, which plays a big part in his schemes. Vector funded the research of T. Masuda at Lake Turkana in order to retrieve the Zohar. Wilhelm also went to Rennes-le-Château to take the twelve Vessels of Anima, but he failed to take Mary's body for unknown reasons. He had to wait until the events of Xenosaga to retrieve her body and create T-elos. Wilhelm used Vector to start the Zohar Experiment, which led to the chain of events that forced humanity to leave their home planet. Because of this, Nephilim Verum, the daughter of Grimoire Verum, was affected by the Zohar Experiment, and Grimoire tried to find her for thousands of years within the U.M.N. Between Lost Jerusalem and Pied Piper Wilhelm continues manipulating humanity and proceeds with his plans. He created the U.M.N. and controls it. It is possible he was behind what happened to Dmitri Yuriev and some other events. It seems Yeshua opposed his plan, rejecting Wilhelm's solution, but he decided to stay neutral at the time. Wilhelm was also active with Ormus at this time, although the exact details are unknown. ''Xenosaga: Pied Piper'' Wilhelm appears in this episode and looks as if he is omnipotent. He says at a moment that Yeshua still does everything possible to oppose him, and will meet Voyager at the moment where this one realizes U-DO abandoned him. He convinces Voyager to join him thus making him the Black Testament, the first known created Testament by Wilhelm. He lured Voyager to his side in promising him infinite power and immortality, what Voyager truly wished, and in exchange Voyager works for Eternal Recurrence. Nevertheless, Voyager didn't really seem to care about Wilhelm's ultimate plan, but as long as Voyager obeyed him, it was fine with Wilhelm. Between Pied Piper and Xenosaga Wilhelm knew that the time of realizing the Eternal Recurrence was extremely near, 100 years being nothing considering his immortality. He approached Kevin Winnicot when he was a child and manipulated him into becoming what he would later be, his role being essential for resuscitating Mary and manipulating the maiden of Mary Magdalene's reincarnation. 14 years prior to Episode I, Wilhelm would observe the events of the Miltian Conflict and see how humans act at this point. Wilhelm would also start the development of KOS-MOS, using Kevin and Shion to create her, and thus resuscitating Mary at long term. He would later bring back Kevin as the Red Testament two years prior to Xenosaga, when he has been murdered by the KOS-MOS Archetype. Using the identity of Heinlein, he is also the CEO of Hyams Group, Vector Industries' main corporate competitor. Wilhelm funds both the U-TIC Organization and the Yuriev Institute, which fuels the competition between the two companies. Additionally, he has supplied the Immigrant Fleet, the physical power of Ormus. Considering his place as Cardinal in Ormus and his ally in Ormus, Wilhelm is the one truly leading Ormus even at this time. ''Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht'' Wilhelm is seen as the CEO of Vector in his giant mother ship, the Dämmerung, observing the Compass in his office and sometimes speaking to the Testaments, which is also the condition he will appear in every time during the series except at very few moments. He is the one to order Kevin to activate KOS-MOS on the Woglinde and gives her orders through Kevin. He claims that everything is going according to what he sees in the Compass. During the course of the game, he brings back Luis Virgil as the Blue Testament. When Albedo Piazzolla activates the Song of Nephilim, he plays chess with Kevin and says "It begins". He will send Virgil to remind Albedo what he has to do, implying Albedo works with Wilhelm, but contrarily, Albedo doesn't seem impressed much by Testaments. Wilhelm would also save the Kukai Foundation from the Gnosis attack using the Rhine Maiden. Wilhelm would be seen observing the Compass when KOS-MOS sacrificed herself to save the Elsa, but doesn't show any kind of emotion except his usual quietness. It is assumed that he was convinced she'd survive, or had many possibility to preserve her. He is last seen speaking of Albedo and how shining his consciousness is. Wilhelm sometime even looks in admiration when speaking of Albedo. ''Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse'' Wilhelm still observes the events, watching as Shion takes Dinah and apparently sending Voyager after her, in the unique purpose of awakening KOS-MOS, who goes to save Shion. He later sends the three Testaments to kill the Patriarch and speed up Albedo's regeneration process. This chain of events results in, after Albedo's death, the appearance of Abel's Ark, which takes the Zohar, all of which Wilhelm expected. Nevertheless, something that he didn't expect happens: chaos making the Ark disappear. They then have a discussion, in which he calls chaos 'Yeshua' for the first time. chaos explains he won't hold back any more, and Wilhelm looks happy about this decision, even though this could technically be something compromising his plans. Another identity of Wilhelm's, Heinlein, is mentioned. Both Margulis and Sellers are under Heinlein’s wing, and all three are high ranking cardinals in Ormus. Wilhelm as Heinlein was in league with Margulis and Sellers to overthrow the old Patriarch during the resurgence of Old Miltia, which he did successfully. At the very end of the game, Wilhelm is seen in a dark room, on his A.M.W.S. Joshua, the three others Testament being also present on their own E.S. They seem to be speaking of the Y-Data when they are interrupted by another ES appearing with a White Testament on it, who is none other than Albedo, who Wilhelm calls the "Weaver of the eternal circle of Zarathustra". ''Xenosaga: A Missing Year'' During the missing year, even though it is not shown, Wilhelm orders the construction of T-elos based on Mary's body, using Roth Mantel (Kevin Winnicot) as a disguised Vector Industries researcher. Under Heinlein's identity, Wilhelm became the new Patriarch of Ormus. ''Xenosaga Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra'' Wilhelm continues to manipulate Ormus, Vector and all others for his plan. He plans for T-elos to absorb KOS-MOS, but fails at this point. He sends his Testaments to make many things and events work while finishing the last preparation for the recurrence. Near the end, he reveals to Margulis that he is Heinlein, and claims that everything in Ormus's faith is nothing but lies, which leads to a crisis of faith and disillusionment in Margulis. When the group finally confronts Wilhelm, he orders Shion to use the key to activate Zarathustra. When she refuses, he tortures her, but she continues to refuse. Kevin attempts to save her and cuts Wilhelm's arm off, which seems to not harm Wilhelm at all. In retaliation, Wilhelm also tortures Kevin. Wilhelm then orders to Mary (KOS-MOS) to take the key and activate Zarathustra herself. However the repeating pattern is finally ended when the true KOS-MOS refuses. Stating she is in fact "KOS-MOS", she destroys the key. Wilhelm did not predict that KOS-MOS, the android, would have her own consciousness or would lead Mary's consciousness to evolve. This leads to Zarathustra spinning out of control. As this occurs, Kevin is unable to watch Shion being tortured and thrusts his fist through Wilhelm, preventing him from taking further actions. This leaves the group to fight Zarathustra. If Zarathustra is allowed to continue to spiral out of control, the result would be destruction of a truly massive scale. Before the fight, Wilhelm begs KOS-MOS, calling her Mary, to start Zarathustra, a saddened look on his face during the fight many times. He is surprised when chaos speaks and says to him there can be another way. After the fight, Wilhelm's body vanishes. His final words to chaos are, "That does sound like you... Yeshua." Even after the destruction of Zarathustra, Wilhelm continued to exist as he is the guardian of the lower domain. He used his power to lead both the Dämmerung and the Elsa into the Milky Way, chaos's plan being to use a "key" located on Lost Jerusalem in order to heal the rejecting will. This way, Wilhelm greatly helped Shion and the others in their task to find Lost Jerusalem. At the end, even without his physical form, Wilhelm apparently keeps an observer role. It is hinted that at one point or another, he will take back his physical form to help saving humanity one more time. It is also hinted that, after all, Wilhelm perhaps did succeed in his plan, another effect of the recurrence being to evolve the human's consciousness, and as such, being evolved enough to deny one more Eternal Recurrence. Wilhelm maybe hopes, similarly to chaos, that they'll find their way to save their universe. Relationships Yeshua/chaos Wilhelm and Yeshua have known each other since the ancient Lost Jerusalem era. They always seem to disagree with each other's way to act. chaos's power was a necessary part in Wilhelm's plan. Despite the negative events that occurred between them where Wilhelm was against him, neither of them seem to hate each other or even dislike each other. Mary Magdalene/KOS-MOS Wilhelm and Mary have known each other since the Ancient Lost Jerusalem Era. Mary seems unable to disobey Wilhelm, since she wants to save the universe and is the best placed one to achieve this purpose. He attempts, and fails, to resuscitate her through KOS-MOS, which is an error since KOS-MOS disobeys him in favor of Shion. Shion Uzuki He controls most of what happens in Shion's life, and put her in charge of KOS-MOS's project since her past bond with Mary. At the end of the game, Shion says she finally understands what Wilhelm tried to accomplish, and doesn't seem to hold anything against him. Testament Testaments are Anima resonant consciousness that Wilhelm reverted to make them Imaginary Number Domain Existence. They all have a purpose but will obey to Wilhelm. They are necessary in order to for him start the Eternal Recurrence. Quotes * "People always try to live a life of choices between 'good' and 'evil.' They make pessimism their foundation, and praise misfortune and sorrow. And then they try to seek a pure heart. Yet this is nothing more than their individual view, born out of comparison with others. Is she who thinks of others 'right'? Is he who opened the door 'wrong'? Only those who stand in a place beyond that point can comprehend the true essence and gain knowledge of absolute truth." * "In any case, the intermission is over and the players stand upon the stage. All that remains is to wait for the knight to appear. And for that, it is necessary that someone play the role of the villain." * "Do you object? The greater the suffering, the more exciting the drama." * "He's a truly fascinating human being. In order to conquer his fear, he chooses to absorb that fear and become that fear himself." (regarding Dmitri Yuriev) * "You've served me well all this time, but it seems your faith was too strong. Overly strong faith clouds the eyes. You are no longer able to see what you should. But perhaps that is still good, in its own way." (to Margulis) * "It wasn't meaningless as long as you, yourself, believe it wasn't meaningless. After all, that's why I've continued to exist." (to Margulis) * "That is one of the phrases that defines me. However, words give people many forms. Vector's CEO, head of Hyams, Ormus Patriarch, the Federation Executive Committee Director... All of those are nothing more than phrases that define me. They each define me, yet none of them are me. So far, the only one who can define me is you, Yeshua." * "The preciousness of limited life, the beauty of death. You're intoxicated by that narcissism. It's such an incredibly human choice." (to Shion) * "How does it feel... to be betrayed by someone you once trusted, Shion?" * "The world can only be returned to the beginning. Come, Mary. Help us guide them into the past. There is no other way for us to save this world." * "Humans, mere humans are rejecting me? Impossible. It is unthinkable. They don't understand how precarious this universe is, this frail world standing on a thin thread. If that balance is tipped, everything will be lost." * "Very well, then. Is that your answer? That does sound like you, Yeshua..." (final words) Trivia *Wilhelm's name is inspired by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche. *One of the Brother's Grimm is named Wilhelm Carl Grimm. There are allusions to Grimm stories throughout Xenosaga, so it is possible that his name also derives from this. *Wilhelm's name may also be inspired by Kaiser Wilhelm II, the last German emperor who lived during World War I, and may refer to him being the last "ruler" of a group or nation, perhaps humanity in general, or also a contraction of the German for Will and Helmet, meaning, "the will to protect". Gallery Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht 1wilhelm-sketch.jpg|Concept art. Kosmos99292200210.png|Concept art. WilCap.png|''Episode I''. Wil1.gif|''Episode I''. Wil2.gif|''Episode I''. Compass.png|''Episode I'' ending. WIlhelmAnimeIntro.png|Wilhelm in the anime. WilhelmAnime2.png|Wilhelm in the anime. Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse WilhelmEp2.png|Wilhelm. WilhelmSuffering.gif|Wilhelm on suffering. DinahJump.gif|Wilhelm watching E.S. Dinah gate jump. Xenosaga Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra WilhelmPortrait.png|Portrait. WilKev.png|Wilhelm and Kevin. WilFinale1.png|Wilhelm and Zarathustra. WilFinale2.png|Wilhelm and Zarathustra. 007Wilhelm.png|Wilhelm. C3virhelmH01.png|Wilhelm (dismembered arm). Category:Characters Category:Pied Piper characters Category:Episode I characters Category:Episode II characters Category:Episode III characters Category:Male characters Category:Ormus members Category:Antagonists Category:Vector employees Category:Deceased